The present invention relates to a flood barrier and a method of operating the flood barrier.
Due to global warming, changes in rainfall weather patterns have been seen in many parts of the world. Some regions experienced prolonged droughts, while others have had intense, sudden rainstorms which tend to cause flash floods. A flash flood can be defined as: “a flood that rises and falls quite rapidly with little or no advance warning, usually as a result of intense rainfall over a relatively small area”. Despite the proliferation of modern technologies, societies are still vulnerable to flash floods, especially so as more and more cities are becoming megacities and economies are increasingly nurtured by urbanization. Thus when flash floods occur, they can claim the lives of many people, as well as cause widespread damage to property and infrastructure, incurring economic losses.
A conventional measure typically adopted to cope with flash flooding by building wider drainage canals has however not been effective due to the unpredictability of rainfall patterns brought about by global warming, in terms of the amount of rainfall forecasted to be deposited over a region.
One object of the present invention is therefore to address at least one of the problems of the prior art and/or to provide a choice that is useful in the art.